According to the statistical report on the development of China's Internet, by December 2020, China had 989million Internet users and 782million online shopping users. The rapid development of online shopping has led to the vigorous development of express transportation industry. Over the past decade, the express delivery industry has experienced a continuous growth rate of 50%. According to the monitoring data of the State Post Bureau, the average daily business volume of the express industry currently exceeds 240million pieces, and 675million pieces were processed on the "double 11" day in 2020 alone. It is estimated that by 2035, the annual express delivery volume will exceed 200billion pieces, 10 times that of the current express delivery volume.

However, while promoting economic vitality, the express industry has also brought new burdens to the environment and resources.

New problems of green development

In addition to the energy consumption in transportation, the use of express packaging will cause pressure on resources and the environment. At this stage, express packaging is mainly divided into paper and plastic according to materials.

If calculated according to the quantity of the waybill, among the main packaging materials, corrugated boxes account for 44.03%, plastic bags account for 33.52%, packaged cartons account for 9.47%, and the rest are woven bags, pearlescent bags, foamed plastics, document bags, etc.

In the process of packaging, a large amount of adhesive tape is also needed for winding and reinforcement. Cartons, plastic bags and tapes will consume resources in the production process and also cause environmental pollution. A large number of packaging materials will later become garbage, further causing waste of resources and environmental pollution.

If the strict garbage recycling system is not implemented, all kinds of express packages will not be effectively recycled and utilized, causing a great negative impact on the environment.

The excessive packaging of express delivery and the impact of packaging waste on the environment have gradually become the focus of environmental governance. Although the government has promulgated many policies and governance plans on the green development of express packaging, the green development of express packaging is still a thorny problem under the background of "carbon neutrality".

The green development problem of express packaging stems from four main aspects.

First, in order to reduce costs, express packaging tends to use materials produced by traditional methods rather than biodegradable materials. This will not only consume a lot of wood and chemical products, but also cause pollution and waste because it cannot be degraded and recycled.

Second, excessive packaging causes more waste and pollution. In order to avoid the damage of express delivery in the process of transportation, most businesses and platforms choose to add many fillers, multi-layer parcels and repeated winding tapes for express packaging, thereby aggravating the pollution.

Third, the recycling rate of express packaging is low. Because there is no unified recycling standard, even if there are mandatory measures for waste classification, the recycling rate of cartons, plastic bags and so on is very low. Even for the recycling of express packages, due to their wide variety and complex specifications, classification, recycling and reuse consume a lot of manpower and material resources.

Fourth, the willingness of individuals to participate in the green development of express packaging is low. As the main body of express consumption, consumers have little awareness of green use and recycling of express packaging, and have not formed a green consumption concept.

Stage achievements and existing challenges

In view of the increasingly serious problem of express delivery pollution, the Chinese government has promulgated a series of policies and norms, and put forward a targeted standard system and implementation plan.

The greening of express packaging has achieved phased results, mainly including: the use of tape in the whole industry will be reduced by more than 25% in 2020; More than 100 million reusable cartons; The utilization rate of electronic waybills has gradually increased; Promote the research and development of the whole industry chain and promote green express packaging.

However, the Green Governance of express packaging still faces many practical operational challenges. First, it is difficult to achieve a balance between service quality and streamlined packaging. Although streamlined packaging reduces energy consumption and environmental pollution, it faces the risk of mail damage.

This part of damage usually needs to be compensated by express companies or even individual couriers, which not only causes economic losses, but also reduces the service quality and reputation of express brands.

Secondly, production enterprises face the contradiction between reducing costs and improving quality. If enterprises use recyclable and degradable materials according to standards, they will undoubtedly face cost pressure.

Coupled with the rise in the price of paper and related biodegradable packaging materials in recent years, if the market is unwilling to pay higher fees for express packaging, businesses can only produce by reducing costs.

With the rise of low-cost e-commerce platforms, many items less than 10 yuan can enjoy national free shipping. If this part of express packaging is produced according to standards, no one can bear its cost pressure.

Third, the express packaging recycling cost is high, difficult, and has not formed a complete recycling industry chain, which urgently needs the strong cooperation and support of upstream and downstream suppliers, relevant recycling agencies, governments and consumers.

Even if we fully cooperate with recycling, it will increase the difficulty of recycling because of the problems of production materials. According to statistics, at this stage, the recovery rate of express cartons is only 60%, and the recovery value of plastic packaging is lower.

In addition, it is also a challenge to awaken consumers' willingness to use and recycle express packaging in a green way. The survey found that even well-educated first tier city residents are difficult to actively participate in the use and recycling of Green Express packaging.

Multi pronged approach to make express greener

To sum up, the green development of express packaging faces great challenges. Therefore, in the context of "carbon neutrality", accelerating the green development of express packaging needs a multi pronged approach.

First, introduce a perfect industry evalsuation system. Establish a perfect evalsuation system and standards for express packaging materials, packaging process, packaging recycling and reuse, and introduce a systematic green development evalsuation system in the whole industry.

Second, establish and improve the incentive mechanism. The initial research and development cost of Green Express packaging is high and not easy to be accepted by the market, so some policy support is needed, such as tax reduction, government subsidies, and the establishment of exclusive laboratories to stimulate research and development.

In particular, reward the newly developed products to encourage relevant enterprises and scientific research institutions to participate in the research and development of Green Express packaging.

Third, we should strengthen policy guidance and encourage standards and technology to take the lead. We will issue more specific guidance documents, improve the system of regulations and standards, and give a clear signal and direction to the market. Through the cooperation of various departments, we can get through the financing development of the whole industry and the whole industrial chain, and encourage the certification and authorization of R & D achievements.

The market and enterprise level should cooperate with relevant policies, establish and improve the management and supervision system, actively and truly disclose the comprehensive report of green supply chain and green development, timely feed back the problems encountered in practice, and assist relevant departments to establish and improve various standards and technical specifications.

Fourth, strengthen policy publicity and public opinion guidance. Infiltrate the concept of green development into all aspects of social and economic development, promote the co governance and participation of the whole society in various forms such as publicity, training and education, and promote the development of Green Express packaging in multiple ways.